Just found some sprouted corn tortillas today. www.foodforlife.com
Wanted to try some corn back in after 6 weeks without it. It has the standard ingredients list: (sprouted) organic corn, sea salt and lime. Hoping sprouting will fix some of the lectins corn is known to have and make them more digestible. Worth a try for a planned non-paleo treat.

That's a good point--if you buy the pre-ground stuff it's iffy. But usually I grind my own flours (coffee grinders are magic) these days for $$ concerns, and always take the proper precautions with quinoa.

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Corn tortillas aren't perfect, but passing up good tacos because of a couple of them would be the greater evil. Sure there are better options, like doing a lettuce wrap, rice torts, or turning your tacos into a salad, but that's not what you asked.

If you've had the rest of your diet locked down for a while and can handle a small cheat without spiraling into a week-long binge, I say eff the Paleonazis and enjoy your corn tort tacos with a NorCal margarita.

Just found some sprouted corn tortillas today. www.foodforlife.com
Wanted to try some corn back in after 6 weeks without it. It has the standard ingredients list: (sprouted) organic corn, sea salt and lime. Hoping sprouting will fix some of the lectins corn is known to have and make them more digestible. Worth a try for a planned non-paleo treat.

But seriously, flour ones are bad gluten juju and should absolutely be avoided. Corn tortillas are not good for you, but are not a horrible, horrible "cheat" (though nasty, rancid oil-fried tortilla chips are a bad idea, no matter how delicious). If you can get traditionally fermented corn tortillas (you will probably have to make these yourself unless you live in Chiapas, etc. or hang out with persons of indigenous Mesoamerican descent), those are OK by me. Some people make coconut "tortillas" which I haven't tried and which sound weird.

The traditional preparation of corn before cooking is soaking in an alkaline solution, this is called nixtamalization which frees up the niacin in the corn. Nixtamalized cornmeal is called masa. When Europeans began growing corn as a staple food without this, they developed the terrible deficiency disease pellagra. Of course, pellagra is only a problem if you base most of your diet off corn.

Evil? No. But I don't use such words for any food. There could be evil people involved in production of any food, but I don't think you could say corn is evil, unless it's been spliced with octopus DNA, then it is an abomination....

That's a good point--if you buy the pre-ground stuff it's iffy. But usually I grind my own flours (coffee grinders are magic) these days for $$ concerns, and always take the proper precautions with quinoa.

I was in a Mexican restaurant this weekend. We consciously try to be Paleo and Gluten free, but I do allow the kids non glutinous grains. I ordered corn tortillas for their meal, as I usually do, and I told the waitress that we were avoiding Gluten. Out ran the chef and said that all tortillas, including corn, had flour in them as a binder. Wondering how many other mexican restaurants do this?

The corn tortillas I made this evening were made with masa, water, and salt. That's it. No lard, no weird ingredients...just those three. They were fried on an ungreased skillet (which you would want in any case). I've been gluten free for a while and am just starting to research paleo - but wanted to call out that corn tortillas are not necessarily made with lard.

I occasionally will make corn tortillas, but this is getting rarer as I'm starting to lose my taste for them. I wouldn't call it "healthy," but I know what's all in it and so I'm more comfortable with it than buying corn tortillas at the store. Taste better, too.

Wheat-Flour tortillas are awful for your health, even worse than bread because typically their oil is horrible. Corn tortilla are not good either but if they are made with a decent oil they may not be that bad, perhaps just a little worse than having white rice.